


A Love Song in Thirteen Parts

by el_em_en_oh_pee



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Apocalypse, Best Friends, Gen, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-30
Updated: 2011-10-30
Packaged: 2017-10-25 03:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/271177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/el_em_en_oh_pee/pseuds/el_em_en_oh_pee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p> The world is getting cleaned up, but Gregory just feels like it keeps on ending. Please note - there is nothing graphic in this fic, but some of the scenes may be distressing to some people. Please note that zombies are not a harmless entity in this fic and proceed accordingly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Love Song in Thirteen Parts

**Author's Note:**

>  Thanks to [](http://slumber.livejournal.com/profile)[**slumber**](http://slumber.livejournal.com/) for convincing me to do this! :) Thanks also to [](http://rzzmg.livejournal.com/profile)[**rzzmg**](http://rzzmg.livejournal.com/) for the lovely banner :) Written for hp_zombiefest 2011.

The world is getting cleaned up, but Gregory just feels like it keeps on ending. He's not scared to go outside, not like a lot of people. Things that go bump in the night rarely bump into him, and anyway, he doesn't really care if he gets turned. All he has is his tiny house and his tiny life and it's not like he can be a bouncer at the most popular club in Wizarding London if no one goes there anymore because they're all petrified of the undead still roaming the streets.

Greg spends his time looking through windows. The world is bleak and gray. Sometimes he scrounges for food. Sometimes he doesn’t. He waits for change.

\---

They say that the terror is almost over. They say that people will be able to leave their houses with an assurance of safety soon. They say that there's surely no more than a couple hundred left, that they're being contained, that they're being destroyed, that the Ministry is sending out special squads to locate and eradicate every last pocket of undead beings, so that everyone can go on with their lives.

It's only been four months since the dead first started walking the streets, since reports went from 'rouge Inferi' to 'zombie attacks.' Since Seamus Finnegan was caught taking a chomp out of Neville Longbottom's leg. They say that everyone's lucky they're wizards. If they were Muggles, without the benefit of magic, it might have taken them years to get to this point – if they got to it at all.

\---

"Hi Vince," Gregory says, staring through the window next to the door that never gets unlocked in his basement. Vincent Crabbe is cold and dead, even if his body still does emit heat when he feeds. Gregory misses the days when Vince would say words, rather than just the low moans that seem to be his mantra lately.

Vince doesn't respond, of course. He just hits his hands against the window and stares at Gregory. Greg stares back, sadly.

\---

Slowly, the streets are being cleared of the undead. The Muggles are lucky; for some reason, they cannot see or be seen by these zombies.

The Wizarding population of Britain, however. The Wizarding population has been decimated. Reports from other countries with magical populations indicate similar devastation.

\---

Vince was one of the first to be turned. The Fiendfyre didn't kill him. He was already dead.

Greg found him, twelve days after the infestation was reported. Vince just shuffled up Greg's porch and started moaning at the door, his fingers scrabbling at the screen. Gregory was in a deep sleep. He didn't hear Vince until Vince's fingers were basically grated down to the bone. He let Vince in without question, and managed to hold him away at wandpoint long enough to lock him in his basement.

\---

People are beginning to walk outside now with their wands in pockets and holsters instead of held at the constant, terrified ready position. Parents are letting their children out to fly on toy broomsticks and play in the mud and pick wildflower bouquets to bring inside.

One day, the six-year-old daughter of Penelope Clearwater scampers off while Penelope is trying to calm her youngest, and gets bitten and slowly devoured by a lingering zombie under a nearby bridge. The zombie is caught and killed, but people are more cautious again.

\---

"I miss you," Greg tells Vince. Most of his other friends are gone. Theodore and Daphne and Marcus were all turned in the very first wave, when everyone was still too confused to be effective against the shambling undead. Blaise is missing, presumed dead. Draco and Tracey don't come 'round anymore – Greg doesn’t blame them, though; he doubts they could have made it through the streets to his door, and Apparition is strongly advised against as the faint _pop_ of Apparating bodies attracts zombies. It's probably for the best, anyway. They don't know about Vince.

Vince doesn't reply. Gregory didn't expect him to, not really. It's mostly just wishful thinking at this point. They stare at each other through the window. Vince's mouth is hanging open, red saliva drooling out the corner of his mouth (Gregory has been feeding him the pets of families that were wiped out by the horde, pushing the bodies of the animals through the door and quickly closing it behind them). Gregory searches for any spark of life in Vincent's eyes.

\---

The report goes out in early August: Zombie Menace Eradicated, Minister Proposes New Sanctions On Cauldron Thickness, _by Rita Skeeter, survivor_. People rejoice in the streets. There have been no reported zombie sightings for several days now. Aurors have been Apparating all over the place for a week now, just to make sure no zombies creep out from any hiding spots. Pumpkin juice and butterbeer flow freely. So does firewhisky. Bertie Botts employees have been giving away free samples to everyone who passes near the factory. There haven't been crowds this big of Wizards congregating in the streets of Muggle Britain since You-Know-Who vanished for the first time seventeen years ago.

You-Know-Who is gone. Now the zombies are, too. Everything is good in the world.

\---

Gregory doesn't join in the revelry. He presses his nose against the window in his basement. Vincent presses his hand to the other side. Greg can feel the heat of Vince's palm through the glass. "Talk to me," he pleads.

Vincent moans.

\---

August 29th is declared a national holiday for non-Muggles. No signs of zombies for a full two weeks is certainly a cause for celebration. People stay home from the jobs they've just so recently resumed and drink heavily, sharing _do you remember when-_ stories that are only several months old.

Children run around the streets, moaning and biting friends on the arms, then running away and laughing hysterically, while their parents watch from afar, uneasily indulgent.

\---

Gregory comes back from the parties with a final dog for Vincent. "Here," he says. "I brought this for you."

He pushes the door open and carries the dog in himself. Presses it into Vince's hands and watches as Vincent lifts it to his lips with bony fingers. The dog yips until Vince bites through its neck and chews, chunks of flesh falling from his mouth.

\---

The Minister makes a speech. Diagon Alley is brimming to the seams with jubilant people who look completely worn out behind their cheerful expressions. It's probably half of the remaining population of Wizarding Britain, already a measly quarter of what it was before the invasion.

He promises that the threat is gone, that everyone can trust in their government, that everyone will be all right. Penelope Clearwater watches him, her eyes hollowed but dry, her mouth twisted into a sardonically hopeful grimace. She is not the only one.

\---

The dog is gone, but Gregory still hasn't left. Vincent lurches toward him. His indistinct moan sounds a little bit like he's saying _goooooooooyle_. Greg's eyes widen. He does not move away. He greets Vince with a hug, not even wincing when he feels Vince's teeth bite into his shoulder.

They shamble through the open door together.


End file.
